Restaurant experiment: Park Slope Ale House

Park Slope Ale House

356 Sixth Avenue at 5th Street

Brooklyn, NY 11215

718-788-1756

When you’re stuck in a torrential downpour with no rain boots, you just want to find the nearest non-sketchy restaurant and just dine there.  And that’s precisely what Dave and I did.  Monsoons are not my friend.

Park Slope Ale House wasn’t too crowded, probably because no one else wanted to venture out in the rain without kayaks.  I’d never been here before despite having passed it a thousand times in my past life.  The place is dark but welcoming.  And you know what else is welcoming?  Burgers!  Dave and I both ordered burgers, and I got mine with blue cheese.  Mmm.  It helped me forget how soaked my socks and the bottoms of my jeans were.

As you can see, the kaiser bun they used dwarfed the patty.  Hey guys, you might want to either up the beef or shrink the bread.  Looks wrong.  The fries had skins which I’m not huge on but was fine. 

Once I was eating a baked potato at someone’s house, and I was asked why I wasn’t eating the skins, and I was confused because I thought you weren’t supposed to eat it.  My family didn’t eat skins and I assumed that’s what everyone did.  Huh.  Storytime over!

The desserts were tempting (chaos pie?) but I was too full from the burger goodness.  Thank for being there when we needed you, Park Slope Ale House!

Restaurant experiment: Big Nick’s

Big Nick’s

2175 Broadway between 76^th and 77^th Streets

New York, NY 10024

212-362-9238

Dave raves about the portcheddar burger here.  Since I can’t pass up a strong burger recommendation, I just had to try it when we had dinner at Big Nick’s.  Big Nick’s is a diner on the Upper West Side with a menu as long as War & Peace.  Seriously.  If there’s something diner-esque that you want, Big Nick’s probably has it.  Also characteristic of this place is how every single inch is covered in some writing advertising some menu item.  It’s almost seizure-inducing.  And the bathroom is located in the kitchen.  And pickles are self serve from a bowl on your table.  Also, they have a really diverse staff.

Luckily for Dave, the burger did not disappoint.  I don’t really like port, but the cheddar wasn’t even that port-like.  It gave the cheddar a more delicate texture, not to mention a glowing color.  It was radiating.  The fries were crispy, and the staff obliged with Dave’s request to make his fries extra crispy.

Big Nick’s, big taste!  Ohhhhh, it’s good I’m not in advertising.

Restaurant experiment: Cafe Luxembourg

Cafe Luxembourg

200 West 70th Street at Amsterdam

New York, NY 10023

212-873-7411

http://cafeluxembourg.com/

Whew, thank goodness I made a reservation.  8:30 on a weeknight, and the brasserie Cafe Luxembourg is practically overflowing.  Squeezing by tables…it’s an art form.  Mike and I looked round for celebs, but we didn’t seen any.  Darn.

Decisions, decisions.  I wanted the Luxemburger (Mike stated it should be spelled Luxembourger, hehe) with cheese but I was also swayed by the steak tartare.  What to do?

Mike kindly offered to share entrees so I could have my cake and eat it too, or rather have my burger and eat my tartare too.  Perfect!  to make it semi-French. 

So Mike picked out a bottle of red wine for us to drink while dining.  The complimentary bread was marked by tough crusts which gave your jaws and teeth a workout.  That needs work.

The burger was good but from the land of salt.  You were offered a choice of fries or salad with the burger, and we logically agreed on salad seeing as the tartare came with fries/frites.  The frites were top notch!  Hot, crispy, and salty (not overly so).  The steak tartare was fine, but both Mike and I reminisced about our favorite tartare at other restaurants.  We wanted more capers, and it’d be nice to have it freshly prepared at our table.

 

Dessert time.  Blueberry pie.  $10?  Uh, that should be $6 tops.

Employees are friendlier than at most restaurants.  The host and hostess made me feel like a person of high society.

Rating for Mike: 3.75 stars outta 5

Restaurant experiment: 7A

7A

109 Avenue A at 7th Street

New York, NY 10009

212-673-6583

http://www.7acafe.com/

We missed brunch by thirty minutes!  Curses!

Oh well.

And what’s a remedy for a non-hangover hangover?

Cheesey burgers.

Despite the threat of a downpour, Dave and I sat outside under the awning and actually lucked out: no rain.  A raggedy man asked us for change, we observed cars attempting to squeeze into a small parking space, and we dogwatched.

Dave and I both went for cheddar cheese burgers.  He ordered the fries as a side, and for mine, I ordered a salad with ginger scallion dressing at his suggestion.  It was rather thick, to say the least.  A mite too heavy handed with the ginger, but it was still pleasant.  The burgers didn’t look too imposing but rendered us stuffed.  Choice! 

Dave’s fries reminded me of Arby’s curly fries.  Damn, I sure could go for some Arby’s cheddar roast beef sandwiches and curly fries.  Man, what’s with me?  This post makes me sounds like some fries and cheddar obsessed person, which is what I am, but I don’t want to see that blatant!

Dim, teesny co-ed bathroom is blah, but the friendly staff, fat menu, and the fact that it’s 24 hours helps 7A earn a high rating in my book.  Hooray!

Restaurant experiment: Maxie’s Bar and Grill

Maxie’s Bar and Grill

233 Park Avenue South/19th Street between Park Avenue South and Irving Place

New York, NY 10003

212-979-7800

http://www.angelo-maxies.com/home.htm

Mike and I came here for happy hour after we were rebuffed by Sugarcane at SushiSamba. In case you are wondering what went down (OK, I made it sound more drama-filled than it was), they wouldn’t let you sit at [empty] booths if you were just ordering drinks; the bar was packed. Ridiculous.

Fine, they didn’t want our money; we were going to patronize a different watering hole. Going down Park Avenue South, that ended up being Maxie’s, the non-steakhouse sibling of steakhouse Angelo and Maxie’s next door since Mike had been there before and could vouch for it.

He and I plopped ourselves down at the spacious bar. The happy hour special was from 4-7pm I believe, with various beers and wines and wells being discounted. Mike stuck to non-happy hour martinis, and I grabbed a gin and tonic before the clock struck seven.

Hot damn! The gin and tonic was packing a punch. I approved. Eventually we decided to order food as well as another round of drinks. Mike decided to go with a classic martini, and I went with another G&T. Since we love burgers, Mike suggested we try the slider sampler. The slider sampler ($9.95) was very confusing so the cheerful bartender had to explain it to us, and we were still confused. I’m sure the alcohol didn’t help, but it would have been easier for everyone if the menu included a description of what burgers exactly were sampled. As it turns out, you can pick plain burgers with the cheeses of your choice (plenty of cheeses to pick from), and/or the teriyaki, au poive, or coffee burgers. I think? Poor patient bartender.

The food was a bit of a bust. I would have never conjured up a coffee burger. Good effort, but coffee and ground meat do not really enhance each other. According to the bartender, the rub was coffee, not the sauce like I thought. That was simply the caramelization of the shallot. The blue cheese slider we ordered was too skimpy on the cheese. The sweet potato fries were fine to me, but Mike declared them too airy, and he’s the sweet potato fry connoisseur so I’ll have to defer to him. Fries came with the slider sampler, but you had to fork over an extra buck for the sweet potato fries. We splurged ($0.75 each) for dipping sauces: roasted red pepper and Hollandaise since I’m on a Hollandaise sauce kick. Holla! The Hollandaise sauce tasted like melted butter. The two of us were still skeptical, even though the bartender swore it wasn’t the truffle butter sauce.

The place was not crowded which was a shame. Yeah, it was a Monday evening, but the joint was not jumping. Poor Maxie’s. Though I did like being able to speak at a non-shouting volume and not be bumped or anything like that. Commendable bathroom facilities.

You know a place isn’t very busy when the hostess volunteers to take a picture for you. How kind of her though. Thanks to Mike for food styling and the picture! I labeled our order at your request.

Restaurant experiment: Shake Shack at Citi Field

Shake Shack

Citi Field, 12301 Roosevelt Avenue

Flushing, NY 11368

http://www.shakeshack.com/

I must say that the Shake Shack at the home of the Mets doesn’t quite replicate the experience of the original Shake Shack.  Though both places, you wait in a long line for your burgers.  Zing!  Here, the wait clocked in at about 35 minutes.  Standard.

I paid around $16 for the double Shackburger and a shake.  Yikes.  Though it’s Major League Baseball, so what can you expect?  I have fond memories of a nearly $10 hot dog from years and years ago. 

I guess this is going to turn into an article on how Shake Shack Flushing is different from Shake Shack Flatiron.  The orders come out much faster (no buzzer doodad), and I couldn’t request onions with the burger though later I realized I should have checked out the condiments stand for possible onion treasures.  The edges of the beef patty were burnt, but the double is definitely substantial and heavy (nixed fries since I’m not too into the crinkle cut).  McRae and I had to sometimes take breaks in between burger bites.

Here’s the new part of the review: the shake.  Since I’d never sipped a Shake Shack shake (say that ten times fast), I was looking forward to the experience.  The Citi Field SS has only vanilla and black and white shakes. the latter being I guess half chocolate and half vanilla.  Do you want to consume a week’s worth of sugar in one cup?  Then the shake is for you!  Wow, that was sweet overload.  I lamented that strawberry shakes were absent from the menu and joked that there were only 1.5 choices since vanilla is part of the black and white.  Maybe I should have ordered vanilla though it could have been just as sweet.  Kora agreed with me regarding the shake sweetness.  At least it wasn’t runny.

Let’s go Mets!

Restaurant experiment: Genesis Bar & Restaurant

Genesis Bar & Restaurant

1708 Second Avenue between 88th and 89th Streets

New York, NY 10128

212-348-5500

http://www.genesisbar.com/

Steve was having a birthday (as a girl at work declared, May is a month of birthdays), and so Stacy and I joined him and a small group for birthday dinner and drinks.  Genesis has sort of an Irish slant to it; some employees had Irish-ish accents.  The crowd was a little older compared to a lot of bars on the Upper East Side.  There was another birthday party too, dancing at the bar, getting some middle-aged man to dance along which we observed and were pained by.

I ordered the 4 points burger which was “black angus beef topped with three cheese on choice of white or wholewheat toast” ($10).  The whole wheat toast was my selection because at least I could fool myself into thinking I was being healthy, with all that cheese, no way.  If you are a cheese fan like me, this burger is your pal.  The fries were funky though, and I can’t recommend them.  There was some wacko aftertaste, and Stacy posited that the oil hadn’t been changed in a while.  It was almost an orange peel taste.  Ick.

Later I ordered a frozen drink off the drink menu, the pineapple piña colada.  Isn’t that redundant?  Because piña means pineapple, and that would be pineapple pineapple colada.  Anyway, not important.  It could have used a heavier hand with the rum but oh well.

Genesis.  The name reminds me of Phil Collins.  Anyway, a solid safe experience.  A bit noisy with sketchy fries, so be aware.  But you can watch rugby on a flatscreen.  I’ve never seen rugby being played before, so it was actually fascinating.

Many happy returns to Steve!

Restaurant experiment: Lucky’s Famous

Lucky’s Famous

370 West 52nd Street between Ninth and Eighth Avenues

New York, NY 10019

212-247-6717

http://luckysfamous.com/

Lisa and I had dinner time to kill before we were going to a play in The Norman Conquests on Broadway. FYI: if you want the LOLs, The Norman Conquests brings ‘em. We ended up wandering around Ninth Avenue (good old reliable Ninth) in search of a place to get some supper. Passing a bunch of Mexican and Brazilian places, we turned a corner and I asked, “What’s that?” as I pointed to a bright yellow establishment next to Aki Sushi. We approached, and it turned out to be Lucky’s Famous, a burger place. Burgers? Tempting.

Since it was a mild day, the workers had thrown open all the windows, and along with the yellow/orange color scheme, Lucky’s was very cheery and smiley-face-y. Lisa and I were kind of skeptical since there were only two other people inside, but the prices were decent compared to some other places on Ninth. So we went in.

How this place works is that you order at the counter, pay, and they call you when your burger delights are ready to be consumed. I ordered a cheeseburger ($6) with fries ($3). I paid by credit card, and there was a line for tip. I am not very happy when this happens at basically fast food places. Then I feel guilty for leaving it blank, but it’s not a sit-down restaurant. All right, I’ll stop from going on about that.

The burger was fine, if a little on the small side. I was pleased that a generous person loaded a lot of raw white onions onto the burger. And it was well done as I had requested. The fries were crinkle cut which I don’t prefer in general, so they were decent but nothing marvelous. Closer to the last bite of the burger, I began to taste black pepper on my tongue. Lisa had this same issue too. Huh? I was not down with that. Looking at the picture, I’m reminded of Shake Shack. Knockoffs?

Well, I guess if Island Burgers and Shakes is too claustrophobic for you, you could round the corner to Lucky’s Famous. Famous is kind of a stretch. Lucky’s Acceptable?

Restaurant experiment: Pink Pony

Pink Pony

176 Ludlow Street between Houston and Stanton Streets

New York, NY 10002

212-253-1922

http://www.pinkponynyc.com/

Anyone who’s spent a span of time in Atlanta will agree with me that seeing the words “Pink Pony” recalls the infamous strip gentleman’s club down in the Dirty South. Which I have not been to. Let me make that clear! What a strange name for a Frenchy cafe, right? Now I’ve got that Ginuwine song in my head too. Oh dear.

No scantily clad women or reddish colored horses were to be found inside this restaurant. Just books. Lots of books. Lily approved of the library theme. We came right when the sunlight was pouring into the restaurant, giving the dining room a warm welcoming ambiance. There seemed to be too many waitstaff sitting around, having dinner. Our server seated Lily and I in the front corner, at a longish table, and we sat side by side by side. Tracks from The Velvet Underground and Led Zeppelin played in the background as we made our selections.

Since it was Thursday, and quail is available Thursdays, I successfully convinced Lily to order that dish but we were both annoyed when the waiter told us they didn’t have the small avians available. Tsk tsk. I am not thrilled when waitstaff do not mention item unavailable right off the bat. She opted for the salmon with green parsley risotto instead. I naturally gravitated to the burger, $12 or $13 with cheese. What kind of cheese was not disclosed. You did have your pick of shoestring fries or home fries. Shoestring for me, thanks. Here is a picture of what was presented to me, taken with my cell phone.

Hey, surprise salad. Good for me. Yeah, the menu descriptions could have used a little more description since I asked Lily about the plum-colored sauce her fish came in. Wine?

As for my burger, I was happy that raw onions were included. The shoestring fried were more like toothpicks. Super crunchy and thin. The patty was respectable, but my issue was with the cheddar cheese. I think its oiliness had leaked out all over, so that the whole bun was greasy. That’s not ideal.

Also not ideal is the cash only policy. A lot of these French bistros in the Lower East Side are cash only. Lame! Regardless, Pink Pony was prompt, gave us a decanter of water for self-serve, and had polite servers. Almost too prompt, since Lily and I had time to kill before going to see Tokyo! at the Sunshine. And then I had toilet seat trauma, but I’ll stop myself from going into that tragic tale.

Restaurant experiment: La Parisienne

La Parisienne

910 Seventh Avenue between 57th and 58th Streets

New York, NY 10019

212-765-4591

Leslie and I were looking for a place to eat in between a double feature.  She suggested we go to La Parisienne.  Was it a French place?, I asked her.  No, it wasn’t.  Just a diner trying to be fancy.

Run by old Greek men, La Parisienne isn’t particularly French in any regard.  The booth we sat in had a little placard with New Line Cinema on it for some reason, along with other names.  I ordered a burger which was servicable.  I forgot that when I don’t order the deluxe at diners, the burger is basically naked.  And who wants that?  I did a special request for raw onions, and the waiter obliged, and there was no exorbitant fee tacked on for that.  Because you never know in NYC, I say as I recall a certain sour cream incident at La Palapa with Leslie.

But with Burger Joint just down the street, this simply can’t compare.

Maybe the Greek fare would totally rock my tastebuds?

I ordered a slice of New York cheesecake because I needed more food and there was time to kill.  With the first bite, I couldn’t decided how I felt about the cake and Leslie commented that my face said it all.  After I kept eating, I decided that it wasn’t bad. 

And why was the diner closing at 9pm on Saturday?  Strange diner.